If you’re a millenial, Gen Z, or have a relative who’s Gen Alpha, then you have probably heard about, seen, or played a game called Roblox. This fun gaming site probably seems innocent enough to the casual player, with it’s bright colors, cute avatars that you can dress up however you want, and fun games ranging from obbies (like “Tower of Hell Obby”) to horror/survival games (like the very popular “Rainbow Friends” or “Doors”). Boasting millions of active users everyday, Roblox is one of the biggest websites in the world, and serves as a place where kids can interact with other kids and make friends. However, while this sounds great on the surface, Roblox actually has some very dark secrets that you don’t have to look hard for to find.
One of the main appeals of the Roblox platform is that it allows you to create your own games for little to no cost at all (unless you’re making a very complex game, in which case, you’ll have to start paying for things with Robux). In order to create your very own game on the site, you can go to Roblox Studio and, with in a few clicks, find a myriad of tools to build the game with the promise that you’ll make tons of money by cashing out the in-game currency, Robux, for real money and reach millions of players with your work. With promises like that, it’s no wonder why Roblox is so popular and houses over 40 million “experiences”, the word they use for games. To get an idea of how many games that is, compare that to the gaming site, STEAM, which has 50,361 games according to backlinko.com. That’s 794 times the size of STEAM.
However, though these promises are enticing and very successful at drawing in kids, they are incredibly scammy. A channel on YouTube called “People Make Games” dove into this scandal and what they found was shocking as they revealed how Roblox manipulates its users for profit by giving the promises mentioned above.
The first lie Roblox tells is the lie that you’ll reach millions of players with your game, something that you’re not likely to do unless you are 1). very talented at coding and making good games or 2). partnered with a creator who already has a large following. Notice that in YouTube videos that Roblox makes where they interview game creators, they mostly interview the successful ones who have made it to the top, creating the illusion that anyone can do it when in reality that type of success to people who are few and far in between. If you go to the Roblox discover page, the only things you’ll find advertised at the top are the games that are doing really well, such as “Rainbow Friends: Chapter 2”, “Meep City” (a problematic game that I will get to soon), “Adopt Me”, “Doors”, etc. Given the fact that there are 58.8 million players, you only have a 68% chance of getting noticed, which is a very generous percentage. If you want to advertise your game, you end up having to bid for advertising, which can cost about 500 Robux or $5 USD. The longer your want the ad to stay up, the more you have to pay. If you want the ad to stay up for a week, you end up paying about 10 thousand Robux (translating to about a thousand U.S. dollars if you were to buy it in gift cards).
The second lie is that you’ll make serious cash from your games. People Make Games dove into this problem and shortly after they posted their video talking about it, Roblox took down the box that made this promise on the Roblox Studios website. When a creator starts making games on the platform, Roblox pays them in Robux, the in-game currency that everyone can get that is completely worthless in real life. Robux can only be used on the website, but, the Roblox corporation promises, it can be cashed out. While this is true, you have to reach a certain amount of Robux in order to cash out and the Roblox corporation makes it very hard to do that. To cash it out, you must first reach 100,000 Robux which in real money is about $300. This mark is very hard to hit because much of that Robux will go towards creating games, as well as getting gamepasses, mods, etc. For those of you who are history or economy nerds, this might seem familiar to you. Robux is scrip. For those of you that don’t know what scrip is, it is a form of payment that was used in the late 18th and early 20th centuries that was outlawed because it was essentially worthless when cashed out and was used by corrupt mining and railroad companies to control their workers, making sure they could never leave the company town they lived and worked in. Roblox is dangling a bone in front of your kids that they will never be able to reach and are profiting off of children’s high expectations.
Another problem with Roblox’s games recruiting child labor is the fact that there are no restrictions outside of the platform. Usually, Roblox games are created by large teams of people, sometimes no more than 2 or 3; other times over a hundred. Kids know this and if they are good at coding, may go onto social media sites such as Discord to sell their talents to whatever game creators that may need them. You might think it’s good that your kid is working, but on Roblox, there are no restrictions. Your kid might be working a 60-hour work week on a game and be being paid barely anything by their new boss on Discord. They could also be being abused emotionally or even sexually by said bosses and Roblox doesn’t do anything about it. While this might seem like it isn’t a big deal for Roblox because Roblox doesn’t own Discord, the kids on Discord are often making content for the Roblox Corporation, and thus should be considered workers for Roblox and be offered protection. But for now, Roblox can’t even guarantee that your kid is even going to be safe working for them.
Until next time,
M.J.
The Tanuki Corner 
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